Global Alliance for Tax Justice’s US network member, the FACT (Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency) Coalition relays a new report from U.S. PIRG Education Fund highlighting “how rigged tax code hurts small business, middle class Americans”.

“Multinational Companies Dodging $147 Billion Annually in State and Federal Taxes through Offshore Tax Schemes”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Study finds that multinational companies dodge an estimated $147 billion in federal and state taxes annually through offshore tax haven loopholes.  The report explains the staggering cost to small businesses and individual taxpayers, who are forced to shoulder the increased tax burden. Titled “Picking Up the Tab 2016: Small Businesses Bear the Burden for Offshore Tax Havens,” the study estimates that each small business, on average, owes $5,186 more on its annual tax bill to collectively make up for the federal and state corporate tax revenue lost to offshore tax havens.

Clark Gascoigne, the deputy director of the FACT Coalition, released the following statement:

“During this election cycle, we were told that the tax code is rigged.  This report is exhibit A.

“For too long, lawmakers in Washington have used the tax code to pick winners and losers.  Sadly, the ‘winners’ have been multinational companies that shift jobs and profits overseas, while the ‘losers’ are small businesses and middle-class Americans who are stuck with the bill.

“We are about to have a very public debate on corporate taxes. It’s important to remember that fixing the problems should include changes that level the playing field between domestic businesses and multinational companies.  Real change must not, as we have seen in some proposals, double down on a two-tiered system that favors multinational over wholly domestic companies.”

You can read the the press release from the U.S. PIRG Ed. Fund, a FACT Sheet on the problems with territorial tax systems and find the full.